لَمْ أَنَلْ في الشَّبابِ ما نِلْتُهُ عِن

لَمْ أَنَلْ في الشَّبابِ ما نِلْتُهُ عِن

دَ مَشيبي من افتِراعِ المعاني

دَ مَشيبي من افتِراعِ المعاني

In youth I did not attain what I attained

In youth I failed to gain what in old age

At my greying, in deflowering meanings.

I extracted from the mines of poetry.

كُلُّ بِكْرٍ ما افتضَّها مِن فُحولِ الشَّ

كُلُّ بِكْرٍ ما افتضَّها مِن فُحولِ الشَّ

عْرِ عِندِي يَالَيتَ ذا في الغَواني

عْرِ عِندِي يَالَيتَ ذا في الغَواني

Every virgin not deflowered by the stallions of

Every maiden poem I plucked in the days

Poetry is mine—if only this were so with fair women!

Of early manhood - would that it were now!